At the peak of the pandemic in the Indian point out of Kerala, manner designer Lakshmi Menon, 46, listened to that each individual new Covid treatment centre had to have 50 beds. Mattresses were in limited source. Each time a affected person was discharged, the mattress had to be incinerated. “I believed: which is a whole lot of mattresses and a lot of burning,” suggests Menon.
Menon’s option was to collect the mountains of plastic parts from factories that make PPE – all the minimal bits left about immediately after reducing. Females then braid the bits into rope-like plaits 6ft extended. The braids are laid out in a zigzag and the ends tied jointly. The consequence is a light-weight, comfortable, washable, hygienic mattress for just 300 rupees (£3) – 50 percent the value of a ordinary one.
The girls of Arayankav near Kochi, in which Menon lives on a